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102-785: Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport ( IATA : BWI , ICAO : KBWI , FAA LID : BWI ) is an international airport in Anne Arundel County, Maryland , located 9 mi (14 km) south of downtown Baltimore and 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Washington, D.C. BWI is one of three major airports that serve the Washington–Baltimore metropolitan area . Dulles International Airport (IAD), in Dulles, Virginia , and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), in Crystal City, Virginia , are

204-421: A Southwest Airlines flight from Chicago Midway Airport , which arrived at 4:18 AM. In 2015, Norwegian Air Shuttle announced it would begin flights from the airport to Guadeloupe and Martinique . In an interview with The Baltimore Sun , Norwegian Air Shuttle CEO Bjorn Kjos said, "Baltimore is high on the list for long-haul destinations", hinting at further expansion into Europe. In mid-2018, however,

306-592: A "100 Days" advertising campaign, in which it promised to "become a little bit better every day". The ads were conceived by advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather in New York, and started being broadcast on June 17, 1990 during the prime-time hours in 33 markets around the United States. The ads featured Martin Shugrue, the airline's court-appointed trustee. While the campaign helped the company increase by 73%

408-543: A 395,000 sq ft (36,700 m) area. Its facilities include a 60,000 sq ft (5,600 m) cargo building in the Midfield Cargo Complex, including a 200,000 square feet warehouse used for Amazon Air, a foreign trade zone , a 17 acres (6.9 ha) air cargo ramp, and ramp parking for 17 aircraft with direct nose-in access for eight freighters. BWI was ranked one of the "Top 10 Easiest U.S. Airports to Get to" by Aviation.com in 2007. BWI

510-484: A Global Entry Enrollment Center, as well as a TSA PreCheck enrollment facility. In the early 1990s, BWI Airport opened the Thomas A. Dixon Aircraft Observation Area at Friendship Park. The observation plaza features a playground and a terrace overlooking the southern approach to the airport's 15R-33L runway. From this vantage point, several planes can be viewed simultaneously as they prepare for landing. The southern loop of

612-483: A connection for passengers on the Northeast Corridor through Amtrak . BWI was the first airport in the U.S. with a dedicated intercity rail station. The station provided rail transit access to Washington, D.C., something that Dulles International Airport did not achieve until late 2022. In 1997, a new international terminal (Concourse E), designed by STV Group and William Nicholas Bodouva & Associates,

714-483: A couple nonstop flights to Miami , but westward nonstop flights did not reach beyond Ohio . The airport's reach expanded when jet service started. The early Boeing 707s and Douglas DC-8s could not use Washington National Airport , and Dulles International Airport , which opened in 1962, had not yet opened, so Baltimore became Washington, D.C.'s jet airport from May 1959 to June 1959, when American and TWA began transcontinental 707 flights. By 1963, Friendship Int'l Airport

816-670: A crippling strike in 1989, Eastern ran out of money and was liquidated in 1991. American Airlines obtained many of Eastern's routes from Miami International Airport to Latin America and the Caribbean . Delta Air Lines , Eastern's main competitor at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport , acquired many of Eastern's Lockheed L-1011 TriStar aircraft. USAir acquired 11 of Eastern's 25 Boeing 757-225 aircraft. Eastern pioneered hourly air shuttle services between New York City , Washington, D.C. , and Boston in 1961 as

918-622: A hub for Piedmont Airlines and successor US Airways , but that airline's financial problems in the wake of the dot-com bust , the September 11 attacks , and low fare competition forced it to cut back. The airport has been a haven for low-cost flights in the Baltimore/Washington Metropolitan Area since Southwest Airlines ' arrival in September 1993 and subsequent expansion in the early 2000s. Southwest

1020-533: A marketing campaign stressing its quality of service and its rank of highly experienced pilots. Unable to keep up, Borman agreed to the sale of the airline in 1986 to Texas Air , led by Frank Lorenzo , which had already purchased Continental Airlines and lost a bidding war for TWA to Carl Icahn . In February 1987, the Federal Aviation Administration imposed a $ 9.5 million fine against Eastern Air Lines for safety violations, which

1122-513: A near monopoly in air travel between New York and Florida from the 1930s until the 1950s and dominated this market for decades afterward. During airline deregulation in the late 1970s and early 1980s, labor disputes and high debt loads strained the company under the leadership of former astronaut Frank Borman . Frank Lorenzo acquired Eastern in 1985 and moved many of its assets to his other airlines, including Continental Airlines and Texas Air Corporation . After continued labor disputes and

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1224-567: A new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This

1326-534: A new airport would be on a 2,100-acre (850 ha) tract of land near Linthicum Heights, Maryland . The cost of building the airport was estimated at $ 9 million. The site was chosen because it was a 15-minute drive from Downtown Baltimore , close to the Pennsylvania Railroad line, the Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad line, and the proposed Baltimore–Washington Parkway , and visibility at

1428-749: A new image was adopted, which included the now famous hockey stick design, officially Caribbean Blue over Ionosphere Blue. Eastern was also the first US carrier to fly the Airbus A300 and the launch customer for the Boeing 757 . On April 30, 1961, Eastern inaugurated Eastern Air Lines Shuttle . Initially 95-seat Lockheed Constellation 1049s and 1049Cs left New York-LaGuardia every two hours, 8 am to 10 pm, to Washington National and to Boston . Flights soon became hourly, 7 am to 10 pm out of each city. No reservations or tickets were required; passengers could pay their fare in cash on board

1530-429: A period of growth and innovation; for a time Eastern was the most profitable airline in the post-war era, never needing state subsidy. In the late 1950s Eastern's position was eroded by subsidies to rival airlines and the arrival of the jet age. On October 1, 1959, Rickenbacker's position as CEO was taken over by Malcolm A. MacIntyre , a brilliant lawyer but a man inexperienced in airline operations.' Rickenbacker's ouster

1632-605: A spokesperson, was used until the mid-to-late 1980s. In 1975, Eastern was headquartered at 10 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan . After Frank Borman became president of Eastern Air Lines in late 1975, he moved Eastern's headquarters from Rockefeller Center to Miami-Dade County, Florida . Eastern's massive Atlanta hub was in direct competition with Delta Air Lines , where the two carriers competed heavily to neither's benefit. Delta's less-unionized work force and slowly expanding international route network helped lead it through

1734-429: A weakened airline structure, high fuel prices, an inability to compete after deregulation and other financial problems, Eastern filed for bankruptcy protection on March 9, which allowed Eastern to continue operating on a smaller scale. Lorenzo initially sought a sale of the entire airline, and on April 6, Eastern agreed to be acquired by former Major League Baseball commissioner Peter Uberroth for $ 464 million. However,

1836-509: Is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports. Canada's unusual codes—which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name—such as YUL in Montréal , and YYZ in Toronto , originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow

1938-554: Is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as the list of Amtrak station codes . Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the National Weather Service (NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and

2040-489: Is currently located) until its contracting route network forced Disney to switch to Delta shortly before Eastern's 1989 bankruptcy filing. The famous "Wings of Man" campaign in the late 1960s was created by advertising agency Young & Rubicam , and restored Eastern's tarnished image until the late 1970s, when former astronaut Frank Borman became president and it was replaced by a new campaign, "We Have To Earn Our Wings Every Day". The new campaign, which featured Borman as

2142-523: Is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents only the English name. Examples include: Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names: The use of 'X' as a filler letter is a practice to create three-letter identifiers when more straightforward options were unavailable: Some airports in the United States retained their NWS ( National Weather Service ) codes and simply appended an X at

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2244-671: Is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in Montreal , Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory. IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations. Alphabetical lists of airports sorted by IATA code are available. A list of railway station codes , shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak , SNCF , and Deutsche Bahn ,

2346-513: Is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200 nautical miles separation." Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for Washington–Dulles , DCA for Washington–Reagan (District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for Baltimore (Baltimore–Washington International, formerly BAL). Since HOU

2448-498: Is located at the southeast terminus of Interstate 195 , a spur route providing connections to the Baltimore–Washington Parkway and Interstate 95 . The airport has a variety of parking options, ranging from a garage within walking distance to the concourses to remote parking lots that require shuttles to access. A light rail station , with service to downtown Baltimore and other locations via Baltimore Light RailLink,

2550-630: Is located next to Concourse E. Amtrak and MARC trains regularly serve the BWI Rail Station , located on airport grounds but about a mile from the terminal, with free shuttle bus service connecting the destinations. Trains on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor , Acela and MARC's Penn Line stop at the station and proceed to destinations including Union Station in Washington, D.C. and Penn Station in Baltimore. Local buses that stop at

2652-543: Is not followed outside the United States: In addition, since three letter codes starting with Q are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of: IATA codes should not be confused with the FAA identifiers of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as Saipan , whose FAA identifier

2754-404: Is the airport's largest carrier, accounting for 56.12% of the airport's passengers in 2011. Southwest Airlines currently serves on average 245 daily departures to the U.S., Mexico , and the Caribbean . In July 2000, Ghana Airways began service from BWI to Accra . The airline operated the flight with McDonnell Douglas DC-10s and sought to serve the many people of West African origin residing in

2856-416: Is used for William P. Hobby Airport , the new Houston–Intercontinental became IAH. The code BKK was originally assigned to Bangkok–Don Mueang and was later transferred to Suvarnabhumi Airport , while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to Gandhinagar Airport (Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to Ozar Airport (Nashik's current airport). Shanghai–Hongqiao retained

2958-732: The BWI Rail Station and BWI Rental Car Facility in the Stoney Run District, and the BWI Business District Light Rail Station , the NSA Friendship Annex , and dozens of hotel facilities in the West Nursery District. A U.S. Department of Homeland Security facility is located in the lower level of the main terminal, near the international arrivals area / Concourse E Baggage Claim. This facility also includes

3060-571: The Canadian transcontinental railroads were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter Morse code : When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with

3162-516: The Eastern Air Lines Shuttle . It took over Braniff International 's South American routes following Braniff's closure in 1982 and served London Gatwick in 1985 via its McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 "Golden Wings" service. Although Eastern announced on its March 2, 1986 timetable that it intended to initiate service to Madrid , effective May 1, 1986, it never commenced. The only scheduled transatlantic service Eastern provided

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3264-512: The Eastern Shore ) and Grantsville , Frostburg , Cumberland , Hancock , Hagerstown , and Frederick (for Western Maryland ). There are also numerous private car, rental car, and cab services, as well as shuttles that go to and from BWI to local hotels; Baltimore and Washington and their suburbs; and Central and Western Maryland. Some former ground transportation services have been discontinued, including bicycle-sharing system from

3366-525: The Governor of Maryland , William Preston Lane Jr. , and Baltimore Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr. , who was taking his first aircraft flight. The cost to construct the airport totaled $ 15 million. The following month, the airlines moved to the new airport from the old Baltimore Municipal Airport at Harbor Field in southeast Baltimore at 39°15′N 76°32′W  /  39.25°N 76.53°W  / 39.25; -76.53 . Eastern Airlines flew

3468-470: The Miami and New York City areas. Later that month, Delta Air Lines acquired Eastern's gates at Atlanta, and Northwest Airlines acquired Eastern's gates at Washington National. Eastern Air Lines flew many different types of aircraft throughout its history. Several regional and commuter airlines provided passenger feed for Eastern via code sharing agreements with their aircraft liveries reflecting

3570-475: The Transport Workers Union (TWU) called a sympathy strike, which effectively shut down the airline's domestic operations. Non-contract employees, including airport gate and ticket counter agents and reservation sales agents, could not honor the strike. Due to the lockout and sympathy strike, cancelled flights resulted in the loss of millions of dollars in revenue. As a result of the strike,

3672-399: The U.S. Air Force's Air Mobility Command , continue to have a significant presence at BWI. Over the first half of the 1990s, runway 15L/33R was extended 1,800 feet (550 m) from 3,199 ft (975 m) to its current length of 5,000 ft (1,500 m), allowing it to be used by small passenger jets like the Boeing 737 . Beginning in the 1980s and for much of the 1990s, BWI was

3774-669: The Washington metropolitan area , particularly Montgomery and Prince George's counties in suburban Maryland, the airport was renamed Baltimore/Washington International Airport . Its IATA code , originally BAL, was changed to BWI by the International Air Transport Association on April 20, 1980, and the change became official six months later, on October 26. The BWI code had previously been used by an airport in Bewani, Papua New Guinea . In 1974,

3876-437: The 13.3 mile BWI Trail travels through the park, providing cyclist and pedestrian access to the park. In addition to the Thomas A. Dixon Aircraft Observation Area, which provides spotters with views of aircraft landing on runway 33L, spotters can use one of several parking garages to view arrivals to runway 15R, with some arrivals appearing to be below the spotter. The Maryland Aviation Administration has its headquarters on

3978-399: The 15-to-25-million-passenger category. BWI also ranked seventh, in medium-sized airports, based on customer satisfaction conducted by J.D. Power and Associates . On August 5, 2014, the airport's little-used runway, 04–22, was permanently closed. It was 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) long and used primarily when the main runways needed to be closed for repairs. The last operation on the runway was

4080-534: The Accra flight nonstop and added a route to Lagos. North American ended all scheduled service in May 2008. In 2008, Health magazine named BWI the second-healthiest airport in the United States. In 2009 the airport had a six percent increase in air travelers due to the proliferation of discount flights. In a 2009 survey of airport service quality by Airports Council International, BWI was the world's top ranking airport in

4182-647: The Bahamas as part of this expansion. In 1973, Eastern purchased Caribair (Puerto Rico) , a small airline based in Puerto Rico which operated McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jets in the Caribbean. Eastern bought the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar and Airbus A300 widebody jets; the former would become known in the Caribbean as El Grandote (the huge one). Although Eastern had purchased four 747s,

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4284-694: The Boston-based company Zagster and the Washington Metro's B30 bus, which was an express service to Greenbelt station . In 1985, the BWI Business District was established as a way to formalize businesses and hotels operating adjacent to the airport. The district comprises two smaller districts located to the north (West Nursery Hotel District) and west (Stoney Run District) of the airport. Numerous traveler resources and employment centers are located within both districts, such as

4386-604: The East. At the time, Eastern was the largest corporate employer in the Miami area and remained so after the cuts. John Nordheimer wrote in The New York Times that Eastern's prominence in the Miami area decreased as the city became a finance and trade center with a diversified local economy, instead of one based largely on tourism . During Lorenzo's tenure, Eastern was crippled by severe labor unrest that began long before

4488-468: The Eastern mainline paint scheme. There were a number of brandings including: Eastern Express, Eastern Atlantis Express, and Eastern Metro Express. LIAT , a Caribbean-based airline, also operated Eastern Partner service. Eastern Express air carriers and their aircraft included: Eastern Atlantis Express was operated by Atlantis Airlines with BAe Jetstream 31 aircraft. Eastern Metro Express

4590-616: The Federal Aviation Administration. The new airline began service through charter and wet-lease flights out of Miami International in late 2014 with Boeing 737-800 jetliners painted in the classic Eastern "hockey stick" livery. The IATA and ICAO codes of the original airline, as well as its callsign, were used by the new iteration of Eastern Air Lines. After a sale to Swift Air , the trademarks were passed on to Eastern Airlines, LLC in 2018. On January 12, 2020, after nearly two decades of being officially defunct,

4692-488: The U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as Stebbins and Nanwalek , which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes. Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service. Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include LAX and JFK . Eastern Airlines Eastern Air Lines (also colloquially known as Eastern )

4794-461: The United States connecting mainly to Houston (IAH). Eric Schmitt of The New York Times said that the services were "a hybrid of late-night, red-eye flights and the barebones People Express approach to service." The holds of the aircraft were reserved for cargo such as express mail, machine tool parts, and textiles. Because of this, the airline allowed each passenger to take up to two carry-on bags. The airline charged $ 10 for each checked bag, which

4896-481: The United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example, YOW for O tta w a , YWG for W innipe g , YYC for C algar y , or YVR for V ancouve r ), whereas other Canadian airports append

4998-589: The acquisition. Asked to accept deep cuts in pay and benefits, on March 4, 1989, Lorenzo locked out Eastern's mechanics and ramp service employees, represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM). Concerned that Lorenzo's successful breaking of the IAM would do the same to the pilots' and flight attendants' unions, the pilots represented by Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and flight attendants represented by

5100-575: The air carrier subsequently being acquired by Eastern in 1973. In 2011, a group purchased the intellectual property, including trademarks, of Eastern Air Lines and formed the Eastern Air Lines Group. The group announced in early 2014 that it had filed an application with the United States Department of Transportation for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, which will be followed by certification with

5202-480: The airline ceased all flights out of Baltimore, attributing the cessation to heavy financial losses. In early 2016, a partnership between the airport and Towson University 's WTMD radio station was announced, including a new concert series that takes place at the terminal's baggage claim on the lower level. Local bands included Wye Oak and others. The new series followed the release event of Animal Collective 's new album Painting With on November 25, 2015, where

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5304-707: The airline in the years to come. Lower oil prices failed to materialize and the debt created by this purchase coupled with the Airbus A300 purchases in 1977 contributed to the February 1986 sale to Frank Lorenzo 's Texas Air . At that time, Eastern was paying over $ 700,000 in interest each day before they sold a ticket, fueled, or boarded a single aircraft. Starting about 1985, Eastern offered "Moonlight Specials", with passenger seats on overnight flights scheduled for cargo from thirty freight companies. The flights, which operated between midnight and 7 am, served 18 cities in

5406-440: The airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance: Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport: When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include: Sometimes,

5508-635: The airport terminal include the Maryland Transit Administration 's 75 route to Patapsco station on Light RailLink and Arundel Mills Mall, as well as route 201, which connects the airport to Shady Grove station on the Washington Metro . Passenger van service to and from the Eastern Shore and Western Maryland is available through BayRunner Shuttle with services to and from BWI to Kent Island , Easton , Cambridge , Salisbury , Ocean Pines , and Ocean City (for

5610-562: The airport was named in honor of Thurgood Marshall , a Baltimore native and the first African American to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice . Planning for a new airport on 3,200 acres (1,300 ha) to serve the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area began in 1944, just prior to the end of World War II , when the Baltimore Aviation Commission announced its decision that the best location to build

5712-415: The airport was renamed Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport , to honor former U.S. Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall , a native of Baltimore . In June 2006, North American Airlines introduced a link to Accra via Banjul , The Gambia , marking the restoration of direct flights between Baltimore and Africa . The carrier employed Boeing 767s on the route. Afterward, it made

5814-418: The airport's former name, such as Orlando International Airport 's MCO (for Mc C o y Air Force Base), or Chicago's O'Hare International Airport , which is coded ORD for its original name: Or char d Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as Kahului Airport 's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H ogg ). In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after

5916-817: The airport's international growth continued with the addition of a twice-weekly flight by Air Senegal to Blaise Diagne International Airport in Dakar , Senegal, via a stop in Kennedy International Airport in Queens , New York City. However, in January 2023, Air Senegal ceased the New York City to Baltimore portion of this route, dropping Baltimore back down to only two year-round transatlantic flights. In 2022, Play Airlines began daily nonstop flights from Baltimore to Reykjavík , Iceland, which

6018-502: The code SHA, while the newer Shanghai–Pudong adopted PVG. The opposite was true for Berlin : the airport Berlin–Tegel used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart Berlin–Schönefeld used SXF; the Berlin Brandenburg Airport has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of Hamburg (HAM) and Hannover (HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share

6120-876: The company hired for the project) is expected to "transform the customer experience by adding a direct connection between concourses, expanding airline hold rooms, creating new food and retail concession spaces, enhancing restrooms, and introducing a new, fully in-line baggage handling system for Southwest." The project is estimated to cost $ 425 million and is expected to be fully completed in summer 2026. BWI Airport covers 3,160 acres (4.9 sq mi; 12.8 km) of land and has three active runways: Baltimore/Washington International Airport has five concourses with 78 gates. Of these, 14 are international (all 11 gates in Concourse E are international gates, five of E's gates are arrival-only, and three gates in Concourse D are also international gates). The airport's cargo concourse covers

6222-592: The delivery slots were sold to Trans World Airlines ( TWA ) when Eastern decided to purchase the L-1011. Due to massive delays in the L-1011 program, mainly due to problems with the Rolls-Royce RB211 engines, Eastern leased two Boeing 747-100s from Pan Am between 1970 and 1972 and operated the aircraft between Chicago and San Juan as well as from New York to Miami and San Juan. The RB211 programme might easily have foundered in 1971 if it had not been for

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6324-934: The end. Examples include: A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have ICAO codes but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use FAA codes instead of ICAO. There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in Malawi or Chōfu Airport in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in Russia (e.g., Omsukchan Airport ) which lack IATA codes and instead use internal Russian codes for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through

6426-419: The first phase of the airport's modernization was completed at a cost of $ 30 million. Upgrades included improved instrument landing capabilities and runway systems, and construction of three new air cargo terminals, expanding the airport's freight capacity to 2.53 acres (1.02 ha). In 1979, the terminal renovation program was completed, representing the most dramatic work of the airport's modernization, which

6528-492: The first scheduled flight, a DC-3 , into the airport at 12:01 am on July 23, 1950. Seven minutes later, the same plane was also the first flight to depart from the airport. Three hundred spectators came to watch the first flights arrive and depart. The Official Airline Guide reports 52 weekday departures from the airport as of April 1957: 19 Eastern , 12 Capital , 8 American , four National , three TWA , three United , two Delta , and one Allegheny . The departures included

6630-557: The first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance: The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as: Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely: For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in: Other airports—particularly those serving cities with multiple airports—have codes derived from

6732-476: The flight. If a plane filled up at departure time, another plane was rolled out to carry any extra passengers. Internationalization began as Eastern opened routes to markets such as Santo Domingo and Nassau, Bahamas . Services from San Juan, Puerto Rico 's Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport were expanded. In 1967, Eastern purchased Mackey Airlines , a small air carrier primarily operating in Florida and

6834-478: The following format: Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y", although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona , and YNT for Yantai , China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example, ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick ). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When

6936-597: The form of " YYZ ", a song by the rock band Rush , which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as brand names , such as Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include HLZ for Hamilton , ZQN for Queenstown , and WSZ for Westport . Predominantly, airport codes are named after

7038-487: The international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several heliports in Greenland have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries. There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in

7140-451: The longer flights, like the non-stops from Chicago and New York City to Miami . The DC-8s were joined in 1962 by the Boeing 720 and in 1964 by the Boeing 727-100 , which Eastern (along with American Airlines and United Airlines ) had helped Boeing to develop. On February 1, 1964, Eastern was the first airline to fly the 727. Shortly after that, "Captain Eddie" Rickenbacker retired and

7242-612: The name of the airport itself, for instance: This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for Hartford, Connecticut 's B ra dl ey International Airport or Baltimore's BWI, for B altimore/ W ashington I nternational Airport ; however, the latter also serves Washington, D.C. , alongside Dulles International Airport (IAD, for I nternational A irport D ulles) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA, for D istrict of C olumbia A irport). The code also sometimes comes from

7344-496: The new album was streamed throughout the airport. In late 2018, construction began on a $ 60 million, five-gate expansion of terminal A for Southwest Airlines . The new expansion began operations in 2021. 2018 also marked a new annual record for passenger traffic at BWI Marshall Airport with over 27.1 million passengers. In 2021, commuter airline Southern Airways Express ended its hub at BWI and switched its East Coast hub to Washington Dulles International Airport . In addition,

7446-633: The number of bookings, it did not stop the company from going bankrupt. Ultimately, Eastern Airlines stopped flying at midnight on Saturday, January 19, 1991. The previous evening, company agents, unaware of the decision, continued to take reservations and told callers that the airline was not closing. Following the announcement, 5,000 of the 18,000 employees immediately lost their jobs. Of the remaining employees, reservation agents were told to report to work at their regular times, while other employees were told not to report to work unless asked to do so. The Eastern shutdown eliminated many airline industry jobs in

7548-416: The one they are located in: Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities: In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include Niigata 's KIJ , Nanchang 's KHN and Pyongyang 's FNJ . EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP. Some cities have a name in their respective language which

7650-476: The other two. The airport serves as one of 12 U.S.-based operating bases for Southwest Airlines . In 2023, BWI recorded 12,849,636 passenger enplanements, making it the busiest airport in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area , ranked at #23 in passenger enplanements in the U.S., followed by Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (#24) and Washington/Dulles Int'l Airport (#26). In 2005,

7752-479: The owner of North American Aviation , purchased Pitcairn. In 1930, Keys changed the company's name to Eastern Air Transport . After being purchased by General Motors and experiencing a change in leadership after the Airmail Act of 1934, the airline became known as Eastern Air Lines. By 1937, Eastern's route system stretched from New York to Washington, Atlanta, and New Orleans, and from Chicago to Miami. In

7854-634: The region. Four years later, in July 2004, the U.S. federal government prohibited Ghana Airways from flying to the U.S. According to officials, the company was operating on an expired license and had disobeyed orders to stop flying an unsafe plane. In 2005, to accommodate Southwest's extensive presence at the airport, Concourses A and B were expanded, renovated, and integrated with one another to house all of that airline's operations there for their major operating base. The new facility, designed by URS Corporation , opened on May 22, 2005. On October 1 of that year,

7956-506: The same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany. Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change: Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include: Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than

8058-488: The same year, it operated 20 daily flights and returns, every hour on the hour, between New York and Washington; the flight time was one hour, twenty minutes, one-way. In 1938, World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker bought Eastern from General Motors. The complex deal was concluded when Rickenbacker together with Sidney Shannon presented Alfred P. Sloan with a certified check for US$ 3,500,000 (equivalent to $ 75,760,000 in 2023). Rickenbacker pushed Eastern into

8160-717: The service as the Trump Shuttle . In August, Eastern signed a deal to sell sixteen DC-9 aircraft and gates in Philadelphia, Washington, and New York to Midway Airlines for $ 210 million. In May 1990, American Airlines acquired Eastern's Latin American routes and related assets for $ 471 million. After several failed attempts at obtaining creditor approval for restructuring plans, Lorenzo lost control of Eastern in April 1990, when former Continental president Martin Shugrue

8262-672: The site was generally good. An alternate site along Gov. Ritchie Highway at Furnace Branch was rejected by the United States Department of War , and another possible site at Lipin's Corner was deemed too far from Baltimore . The State Aviation Commission approved of the Linthicum Heights site in 1946. Much of the land was purchased from Friendship Methodist Church in 1946, and ground was broken on May 2, 1947. Friendship Methodist Church held its last service on Easter Sunday in 1948. Friendship Methodist Church

8364-500: The station code of Malton, Mississauga , where it is located). YUL is used for Montréal–Trudeau (UL was the ID code for the beacon in the city of Kirkland , now the location of Montréal–Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in

8466-668: The steadfast support of Eastern Airlines, one of the major launch customers for the Lockheed TriStars. The President of Eastern was Sam Higginbottom , who never wavered and thereby acquired some criticism. Just before Walt Disney World opened in 1971, Eastern became its "official airline". It remained the official airline of Walt Disney World and sponsored a ride at the Magic Kingdom park ( If You Had Wings in Tomorrowland where Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

8568-697: The third floor of the terminal building. BWI has been a backdrop in six films , Goldfinger (1964), Broadcast News (1987), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Company Business (1991), Home for the Holidays (1995), and Twelve Monkeys (1995). It was also featured in the reality TV series Airline (2004–2005), an episode of the TV series House of Cards , and the TV documentaries Honor Flight (2007) and Eatin' Crabs Chesapeake Style (2009). IATA airport code The assignment of these codes

8670-414: The transaction was terminated on April 12 after Lorenzo refused to give temporary control to a trustee. The sale process was then terminated on April 18, and Lorenzo proposed a sale of $ 1.8 million in assets that would allow the airline to continue operating independently. In May 1989, Eastern sold its East Coast shuttle service to real estate mogul Donald Trump for $ 365 million. Trump continued operating

8772-447: The turbulent period following deregulation in 1978. In 1980, a Caribbean hub was started at Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (known at the time as "Isla Verde International Airport") near San Juan, Puerto Rico . In 1982, Eastern acquired Braniff 's South American route network. By 1985, Eastern was the largest ATA airline in terms of passengers and operated in 26 countries on three continents. During this era, Eastern's fleet

8874-515: The two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as YQX in Gander or YXS in Prince George . Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including: Canada's largest airport is YYZ for Toronto Pearson (as YTZ was already allocated to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , the airport was given

8976-529: The use of two letters allowed only a few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other. Since the U.S. Navy reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with Federal Communications Commission broadcast call signs , which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes: This practice

9078-484: Was Miami to London Gatwick, commencing on July 15, 1985, and discontinuing the following year, in 1986, replaced with codeshare flights from Atlanta on British Caledonian Airways . Eastern Air Lines was a composite of assorted air travel corporations, including Florida Airways and Pitcairn Aviation . In the late 1920s, Pitcairn Aviation won a contract to fly mail between New York City and Atlanta, Georgia on Mailwing single-engine aircraft. In 1929, Clement Keys ,

9180-535: Was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida . Eastern was one of the " Big Four " domestic airlines created by the Spoils Conferences of 1930, and was headed in its early years by World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker . It had

9282-464: Was added, though Dulles continues to hold the lion's share of the region's international flights, and BWI has not attracted many long-haul international carriers. The first transatlantic nonstops were on World Airways about 1981; British Airways arrived at BWI a few years later. Aer Lingus , Air Jamaica , Air Aruba , Air Greenland , El Al , Icelandair , KLM , Air Canada, Ladeco , and Mexicana previously flew to BWI. Military flights, operated by

9384-429: Was announced. It has been described as the "largest capital project in the history of BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport". This project includes major upgrades to the airports' Baggage Handling System as well as a renovation and expansion to the airports' A/B Connector, which will provide passengers with a direct connection between concourses A and B. The project (according to airport management as well as Clark Construction ,

9486-545: Was appointed as trustee to manage Eastern's reorganization. A report prepared by David Shapiro, an examiner appointed by the bankruptcy court overseeing Eastern's bankruptcy filing, concluded that Eastern was shortchanged by Texas Air in numerous transactions between the two. For example, Texas Air bought assets like System One, a computer reservation operation, from Eastern at a price far below market value. Eastern tried to remain in business in an attempt to correct its cash flow, but to no avail. Under bankruptcy, Eastern launched

9588-475: Was designed by DMJM along with Peterson & Brickbauer. The renovations more than doubled the size of BWI's terminal to 14.58 acres (5.90 ha), and the number of gates increased from 20 to 27. The total cost was $ 70 million. To continue the work, the BWI Development Council was established to support initiatives for airport development. In 1980, the BWI Rail Station opened, providing

9690-888: Was equipped with a 9,450 foot (2,880 m) runway, which could handle any commercial jet aircraft at that time. In 1972, the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) purchased Friendship International Airport from the City of Baltimore for $ 36 million. Under MDOT, the Maryland State Aviation Administration took over airfield operations, and the airport grew from three employees to more than 200. Plans to upgrade, improve, and modernize all Maryland airport facilities were announced almost immediately by Harry Hughes , then Maryland Secretary of Transportation and later Governor of Maryland . On November 16, 1973, in an effort to attract passengers from

9792-659: Was largely due to his reluctance to acquire expensive jets as he underestimated their appeal to the public. A new management team headed by Floyd D. Hall took over on 16 December 1963, and Rickenbacker left his position as director and chairman of the board on December 31, 1963, aged 73. In 1956, Eastern bought Colonial Airlines , giving the airline its first routes to Canada. In November 1959, Eastern Air Lines opened its Chester L. Churchill-designed Terminal 1 at New York City's Idlewild International Airport , later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport . In 1960, Eastern's first jets , Douglas DC-8-21s , started to take over

9894-833: Was operated by Metro Airlines and was based at Eastern's Atlanta (ATL) hub operating British Aerospace BAe Jetstream 31 and de Havilland Canada DHC-8-100 Dash 8 turboprops. Eastern Partner was operated by a Caribbean-based airline, Leeward Islands Air Transport , with turboprop service between Eastern's San Juan hub and Antigua , St. Kitts and St. Maarten . Eastern also worked closely with another Caribbean-based airline, Caribair (Puerto Rico) . The June 13, 1967 Eastern system timetable lists connecting flights operated by Caribair Convair 640 turboprops with service between Eastern's San Juan hub and St. Croix and St. Thomas. By 1970, San Juan-based Caribair had become an all-jet airline operating McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 aircraft serving fourteen Caribbean islands as well as Miami with

9996-411: Was quickly followed a few weeks later by Icelandair also resuming flights from BWI to Reykjavík. On January 26, 2023, Copa Airlines announced they would start operating direct flights to Panama City , making it the first Central America -based airline to operate out of the airport. The flights began as scheduled in late June 2023. In October 2022, a proposed renovation and expansion to BWI Airport

10098-480: Was razed to make room for the new airport. In addition, several pieces of land were bought, and 170 bodies buried in a cemetery were moved. Baltimore–Fort Meade Road was moved to the west to make way for the airport's construction. Friendship International Airport was dedicated on June 24, 1950, by President Harry S. Truman . Truman arrived in a Douglas DC-6 , then the official presidential airplane, from nearby Washington National Airport . Accompanying Truman were

10200-514: Was shipped standby. The airline charged between 50 cents and $ 3 for beverages and snacks. Bunny Duck, an Eastern flight attendant quoted in The New York Times , said that the passengers on the special flights were "a cross section of families, college kids, illegal aliens and weirdos from L.A.". Eastern began losing money as it faced competition from no-frills airlines, such as People Express , which offered lower fares. In an attempt to differentiate itself from its bargain competitors, Eastern began

10302-436: Was split between their "silver-colored hockey stick" livery (the lack of paint reduced weight by 100 pounds) and their "white-colored hockey stick" livery (on its Airbus -manufactured planes, which required paint to cover the aircraft's composite skin panels). In 1983, Eastern became the launch customer of Boeing 's 757 , which was ordered in 1978. Borman felt that its low cost of operation would make it an invaluable asset to

10404-494: Was the largest fine assessed against an airline until American Airlines was fined $ 24.2 million in 2010. Eastern's FAA violations all occurred prior to the acquisition by Texas Air. In 1988, Phil Bakes, the president of Eastern Air Lines, announced plans to lay off 4,000 employees and eliminate and reduce service to airports in the Western United States ; he said that the airline was going "back to our roots" in

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